You made it! Now what?

Congratulations go out to all who completed all 30 day's of the challenge, it is no small feat and you should be proud.  You deserve to reward yourself, but this is the perfect opportunity to test how ingrained the "lifestyle portion" of the challenge has resonated with you.

If your idea of a reward is a day beginning with one of those Starbucks sugar bombs and ending with beer, pizza, and ice cream, complete with anything else you missed during the past 30 day's thrown in between, you might be missing the point.  Again we want to challenge the way we look at food and food as celebration(especially crap food) is deeply engrained in our psyche.  Be different this time.  Reward yourself with a massage, get your hair or nails done, go for a hike.  There are many ways to celebrate and reward yourself for what you have accomplished. 

We truly hope that you are starting to take a more critical look at the foods you eat and their role in your overall health and well being.  This exercise is more about a lifestyle and changes in long ingrained habits than it is a temporary challenge.  We want you to analyze why you do certain things especially as they relate to your nutrition.  Is it because it is easy or that is how it has always been done or because you have been following conventional wisdom, pushed on us by advertising from the huge companies that run the "heart healthy" grain, sugar, and dairy industries.   Or is it because it is what is best for you and your family. There is a cultural shift that needs to happen and a reeducation that needs to take place.  From one of ease and convenience and what has always been to one that focuses on what is best for the health and well being of you and your family. We had more people question the challenge this time around and we love that.  Knowledge is power.  Don't just accept what is pressed upon you as fact, do the work to learn about the foods you are eating and their effects on your health.  Be your own experiment.  Little things make a big difference.  Change little things and big things happen.  You have taken the first and most difficult steps of change.  Don't let it all go to waste by slipping back into old way's.

To help you transition from the end of the challenge and  learn a little bit about yourself in regards to what foods may be more problematic than others we will cut and paste from previous challenge ending posts below.  Before we do though we wanted to thank all who participated.  We have said this before and it was even more true this time around, we learn more from these challenges than you do and it helps us get better at what we do.

We would love to hear from everyone as we wrap this thing up.  How did your experience go?  If you made it through, what helped you stay strong?  If you didn't, what made you break?  What changes did you notice?  What was particularly hard?  What are your plans going forward? There are three ways you can do this.

1. Leave us a comment letting everyone know about your experience.
2. Send us an e-mail.
3. Tell us in person

We would like to invite anyone who can make it to our house next Friday 10/7 from 6-9 for a pot luck happy hour.  Bring your favorite "clean" dish and your favorite "not so clean" drink.  We will be mixing up some "clean" margaritas and pina coladas sharing our experiences.  Hope you can make it.

Repost
Those who made the whole 30 days congratulations!  You have made significant growth in your mental and emotional strength and should be very proud of yourselves.  Know that it is an ongoing battle though, and you need to keep your guard up even more as you loosen the reigns and find a way to work in some of the eliminated foods into your new routine.  Look below for what you need to do when reintroducing foods you have eliminated.

Those who broke during the 30 days, don't beat yourself up over it and consider yourself a failure.  It will only cause resentment and push you to find comfort in your old friends(Bagels, pizza, chocolate, ice cream).  You have taken the first critical steps to better health, remember that is what this is all about.  You are not doing this for anyone other than yourself and one slip up does not have to be a spiral out of control.  Any day without processed crap, sugar, etc. is a day towards better health.  Continue on your journey to better health and when those demons of instant gratification pop up and tell you you are a grown person and no one is going to tell you how to eat, ask yourself which is more important, your health or that sweet treat?

We have heard many things over the past 30 days from people doing the challenge and from people who ask us what we are doing when we politely decline a forbidden item.  People say, "This is so hard!" "You have so much discipline."  "It must be hard eating that way?"  Guess what?  It's not hard.  Fighting cancer is hard.  Spending a year fighting insurgents in Afghanistan is hard. Getting off of crack or heroine is hard.  Being homeless is hard.  Staying away from pizza, a cookie, or beer for 30 days is not hard.  Especially when the stakes are so high.  The real sad part is we have been conditioned to the point that eating nutrient dense, whole, natural, healthy foods is weird.  We are the ones who are on that weird diet and asked why we eat "that way."

Unfortunately, we see almost daily how quality of life can be affected by failing health.   We have loved ones who are missing out on significant life events because they don't have the physical ability to keep up and their physical failings are at least partly related to the foods they choose to eat.  It is sad and, in truth, somewhat disappointing when we have clients and challenge members reversing conditions by taking charge of their lives and eating clean and we can't help those closest to us.


For closing this thing out, what you do over the next few days is more important than what you have done for the past 30.

This challenge has been called a cleanse and can be looked at that way.  We are trying to get out most of the foods that are known to cause gut irritation and see how your body reacts.  The goal being to then reintroduce these foods and see which ones work for you and which ones do not. This technique will not work if you reward yourself for your strength over the last 30 days by going out for pizza, beer, and ice cream.  I can tell you now how you will feel afterward and the worst part is you will have no idea which foods caused problems.  As we reach the end of this challenge, one option, the way we have settled into, is to keep those foods out for good.  You have proven that you can deal without them.  We do want you to find something that works for you, so if you feel you have to have some bread, grains, dairy, sweets or beans be smart about it.  The trick is to start back slowly by reintroducing one thing at a time and see how your body responds.  Start with cheese in your eggs on the first day or a glass of milk with dinner and see how you feel.  If things go well, try some oatmeal for breakfast the next day or pasta for dinner.  Pay close attention to how your body is responding and make adjustments as needed.  If you have issues with food, the symptoms could range from sneezing and a stuffy nose to a full on bout of Montezuma's revenge, but rest assured your body will let you know.

We have reached a point where we do not eat grains, dairy, or legumes at all unless we make a conscious decision to go off our eating plan.  This is mostly in the form of a family pizza night or an occasional trip to the ice cream store.  We purposefully go out of the house, have our cheat and come back.  This way the tub of Bryers mint chocolate chip, or the left over Ledo's pizza is not calling to you from the fridge. Eat it, enjoy it, and move on.  Don't feel bad or guilty about it. We eat clean during the week, when our schedule is pretty much set and it is easier and loosen up a bit on the weekends.  This could mean a glass(or three) of wine, some dark chocolate, possibly Jimmie Cone or Yogi Castle.  After doing this for a few years, our cheats become less and less worth the day or two of discomfort that follows.  One bad meal affects everything from our digestion, to our workout quality, to our sleep.  It is just not worth it.

We hope this experience has raised your awareness of what you are putting into your body to fuel your everyday functions and ultimately your health.  We hope that you have been empowered by the idea that you can have control over the emotional pull of food and the temporary comfort it provides.  We want you to be very aware of the idea that if something is able to sit on a shelf for months and not spoil, it is probably not very good for you.  We want to make sure that you are aware that vegetables are carbohydrates and a good meal has a quality protein, a fat, and a carbohydrate.  Every Meal!

We eat this way because we feel that it has benefits far greater than just looking, feeling, and performing better.  Not to sound too new wave or crunchy, (we are headed down that path) we believe strongly that the human body is a wondrous machine that is perfect in it's most natural state.  It wants to be healthy, but we do our best to screw that machine up with what we expose it to through our environment, our lifestyle, and our diet.  Giving your body the food it was meant to eat, exercising a little, and getting enough sleep will go a long way to repairing the damage we have done to ourselves. 

If you ever have any question you can ask them in the comment section of any post and we will get them, or you can e-mail us at info@newdawnfitness.com. 

Thanks for joining us!
Dawn and Paul

Strength in Pain

I was inspired to write this post in the middle of an extremely hard workout.  I wanted to stop in the middle of it and just call it quits.  I couldn't breathe, my body was aching, and I couldn't keep the sweat out of my eyes.  Luckily, the song The Cave from Mumford and Sons came on the ipod.  This is one song that helps me get out of my own head which at times can be my own worst enemy! I know I can physically complete the workout, but my mind wants me to take the easy way out and just call it quits!   Nope, I worked through the pain and finished the workout and created a pretty cool sweat angel on the floor of my garage:)

Those are the times when I am reminded that nothing good in life comes easy.  Pain, whether mental or physical, does make us stronger.  Living a healthy lifestyle requires a lot of work and can be a pain in the butt!  We all have so many demands each day.   We try so hard to meet those demands that sometimes our health and the health of our children take a back seat.  Each day, Paul and I spend a lot of time preparing food for the week, feeding the kids whole, unprocessed foods,  and squeezing workouts in while trying to plan workouts that will benefit our clients.  Sometimes, just sometimes, I wonder if it is all worth it.  It would be so much easier to throw a bagel with peanut butter in my mouth and hand the kids a pop tart. However, I am quickly reminded of how awesome I feel and how much energy and passion I have for life and helping others.  We love that the kids have so much energy and we see so many amazing, positive changes in them. We want the best for our family, friends, and clients and that might require more work, but it is well worth it.

Completing a 30 day clean eating challenge requires a lot of mental strength and continuing this lifestyle after the challenge can be even harder.  We are going to arm you with strategies for making good food choices after the challenge ends and try to help you continue on the road to good health!  We hope that this experience has had a positive impact!  Paul and I are always talking about why we love clean eating and working out so I thought you would enjoy this story about someone else reaping the benefits of clean eating and exercise.  Happy Reading and stay strong all the way to the end.You are almost there!

 Believe it or not we are heading into our last weekend of the challenge.  We will share some information about how to transition out of the challenge next week.  Until then have a great weekend and here are some Friday links to get you through the day.

Robb Wolf had a great post here where he debunks the notion that clean eating has to be expensive.

Mark Sisson over at Marks Daily Apple has a great post helping parents with getting their kids on board.  This is something that is a daily struggle for us.  They just started their annual 30 day challenge last week and Mark has daily posts that help to motivate and inform.

Be Careful About being "That Person"

10 day's to go on the challenge!  Hope you are hanging in there and feeling good.  We had some sort of throat thing sweep through both the kids last week, but seem to be back on the mend now.  I don't usually have many cravings during challenges as our usual way of eating is not far removed from challenge standards, but this one has been tough.  I think it's the cool weather combined with football season making me want bad food and beer.  I have managed to stay strong and hope you have as well.

We hope you are starting to feel the boost in energy, the clearness of mind, the tighter body feeling, the confidence of self discipline, and all of the many benefits that come with cleaning up your diet.  We want to warn you early about becoming "That Person."  "That Person"  sees someone else eating Mc Donalds or a doughnut and shakes their head thinking poor them.  They sit down for lunch at work and when the (seemingly daily) birthday treat is passed they curl their face up and proclaim loudly, "I don't eat that."  You start to notice as you head out and about just how many people are over weight and obese and think to yourself, "What's wrong with them?"  If you have not experienced any of these thoughts or feelings great, you can skip down to today's helpful link about cooking oils below.  If you have, keep reading.

Stop it!  Stop being "That Person."  When you find something that works for you it is hard not to think it will work for everyone and want to share it.  Dawn and I have come to accept the fact that we are seen as "Those People" pretty much all the time.  We know that when people eat in front of us, many times, they are wondering what  we are thinking or if we are judging them?  We are not!  We found out early in this process that it is a deeply personal one and no one can be forced into making change, even the ones closest to us. We try to live by example and offer advice and info when asked.  As you grow in your comfort level with this way of eating the urge to fix other people grows with it.  Resist this urge and keep the focus on yourself. You will need it as you transition back to post challenge life.

"Be the change you want to see in the world"
                                                     Mahatma Gandhi


Diane Sanfilippo over at Balanced Bites has posted a very handy and informative piece on cooking oils.  I had a light bulb moment about fats at her nutrition seminar and as a result we have gone away, almost completely, from cooking with olive oil and have been very happy with the results.  If you have an extra four minutes be sure and watch the video on how canola oil is made.

We also wanted to throw in a plug for a great way to test your fitness levels and support a great local charity this weekend.  Bubba's Belly Run will be held this Sunday at Bullis High School in Potomac MD.  The run is in honor of Brian "Bubba" Bunting who was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan in February 2009.  His wife was pregnant at the time and the idea for the run was born shortly followed by Brian's second son.  Proceeds from the race benefit charities that support the children of fallen soldiers.  We will be there along with early challenge rock stars John and Jen who turned us on to this worthwhile cause.


Have a great week, we will check back in before the weekend.

Swimsuit season starts today!

The thought of swim suit season might enter our minds as early as Jan.1 with New Years resolutions, but most of us don't think about it until late in the spring when the weather heats up and that is way too late.

Our initial focus is always on health first and aesthetic goals are seen as an added bonus to feeling great and resolving lingering medical issues.  But who are we kidding, looking great helps.  Having a body that you are comfortable in makes you feel great about yourself and is a great motivator.  We bring this one up here in the middle of the challenge just in case anyone is wavering and needs another reason to stick to their guns for the next two weeks.

Just as it takes time to slowly add those unwanted pounds, it takes time to get rid of them.  The habits that you pick up this month will serve you well throughout the year. Especially as we head into the most difficult stretch, nutritionally speaking, the months of Oct., Nov. & Dec.  

Stick with the program and see this thing through.  Bathing suit season starts today.

We have reached the halfway point in the challenge.  How are you holding up?  We hope by this point you have past the withdrawal type phase and have transitioned into a more fluid routine.  We hope that there has been a fundamental shift in the way you look at food.  Foods main purpose is not to entertain and satisfy emotional cravings, but to nourish us and fuel the many demands we place on our bodies.  Stay strong these last two weeks we promise it will be worth the effort.

A few of our recent meals

This is a typical breakfast scramble where we throw just about any meat we have in the fridge into some scrambled eggs along with spinach and tomatoes.  It looks like left over flank steak and chicken sausage. Looks terrible but tastes great.

Costco salmon with grilled veggies and guac

Meatballs with marinara sauce over grilled broccoli and cauliflower

Another late in the week creation when the fridge starts to clear out.  Veggies from our bag o cut veggies with various types of meat thrown in.  Including deli roast beef and turkey and a 1/2 sweet potato.

A regular go to, hamburgers with mixed veggies, broiled green beans and 1/2 an avocado.

This is something we tried as a dessert based on a comment from Kim a while back.  Cut apples baked in Kerry Gold butter, then sprinkled with cinnamon.  You won't mistake it for apple pie, but even the kids liked it.

 

Happy Friday!

First, I want to congratulate everyone who has stayed strong during the first two weeks of the challenge!  It is so easy to slip so you deserve a pat on the back.  If you have slipped don't get discouraged, jump right back in and see this thing through.  Paul and I definitely needed a reset and we feel great!  I wanted to share a few thoughts as you continue through the next 21 days.

1.  It gets easier.  Some of you may have had a rough 2 weeks and the weather has not helped, but your energy levels will pick up soon and you will notice that the cravings that you usually have subside.  Feeling weaker during your workouts is normal during this transition and you will feel stronger as you continue.

2.  Do not focus on the scale!  Focus on how you feel(energy levels, mood, etc.) and how your clothes are fitting.  Here is a great article to motivate you.  Read it carefully and look at the captions below the pictures carefully too.  You will be very surprised!  It is a great read!

3.  Here is a great article that is both informative and funny and deals with our misconceptions about what foods are healthy.  The article comes from Diane Sanfalipo's website Balanced Bites.  I would suggest reading as many of her posts as you can.

4.  We are all in this together and we are attempting to change the way we have done things for years and years.  It is a process and it takes time.   Please share your thoughts, feelings, struggles, accomplishments, questions, and recipes in our comment section.  No one wants to feel alone in this journey!  Here is one final post(your not going to get any work done this Friday) that was on the Everyday Paleo website this past week.  It seems to have motivated many to get back on track. Be sure to read the comments for a wealth of practical knowledge from families trying to do the same thing you are.  Hope it helps.

Finally we wanted to share a couple of snack/dessert/breakfast ideas the we have used this past week.

This a a very simple but delicious breakfast meal.  Brown loose sausage(we get ours from the Amish Market)

Grate or shred one large, peeled, sweet potato.

Throw it in with the sausage and voila!  It is incredible.  Got this recipe from Sarah Fragoso's new cookbook called Everyday Paleo.

We found this at Safeway.  It is great plain as a snack, but you can also throw it in a bowl with some coconut milk and if you close your eyes and try not to think about it too much it can almost pass for cereal.

This is our evening snack.  Trader Joe's almond butter with roasted flax seeds thrown on top of some frozen blueberries we picked earlier this summer. 

Not a snack idea, just an awesome spread we had at JD and Nicole's last weekend.

Have a great weekend!

Less is more!

We are personal trainers.  The name of the business is New Dawn Fitness. Yet, if you look back through our blogs, 90% of them deal with issues of nutrition.  This percentage is compatible with our feelings of the importance of nutrition as it relates to overall fitness.  Nutrition is 90% of the equation.  You cannot out train poor nutrition.  As you work hard on your nutritional habits during this challenge, keep this idea in mind.  Just as our nutritional views are contrary to the conventional wisdom that is sold by the media and the government by way of the grain, dairy, and meat lobby, our views on exercise fit the same mold.  LESS IS MORE!

This is so hard for people to grasp.  Especially people who have had some success at losing weight with the conventional approach to exercise, where they spend 45min to an hour either on some sort of machine, or bike, or jogging.  There is an initial level of success because you are going from doing nothing to moving and the body responds.  Unfortunately, our experience, both personally and through people we know who use this approach, is that those successes are short lived and often end in injury, burn out, and more weight gain.

If your nutritional practices are dialed in, the frequency and duration of your exercise program can be reduced dramatically.  We have seen this first hand with ourselves.  In the summer of 2009, we had been on this Paleo/clean eating kick for the better part of a year and had leaned out nicely.  Dawn actually lost a lot of weight initially and I was down a little, but with a 34in waist for the first time since 10th grade.  We then decided to compete in a Crossfit Competition.  We ramped up our training working out almost daily in preparation for the competition and a funny thing happened.  We both got chubby!  Not fat, just a noticeable roll around the mid section.  We thought it was strange because we were both hitting records on both our strength and cardio based workouts. Fast forward to a month after the competition, our training had settled back into our usual three to four days a week of short intense work and we had leaned out again.  I didn't think much of it until I started running pretty consistently for a trail marathon last year and the same thing happened.  What is my point to all of this?  LESS IS MORE!

Exercise is stress to the body and too much exercise is just as bad if not worse than none at all.  The constant damage to muscle tissue can lead to injury and the constantly elevated cortisol can lead to adrenal fatigue and a whole host of hormonal problems.  Not to mention that annoying roll around your waist.  LSD(long slow distance) is particularly problematic.  Here is an interesting read from the Everyday Paleo Blog that got us thinking about this topic.  He is a bit more critical of cardio work as a whole than we are, but the point is the same.  Don't be fooled into thinking that the ability to run a marathon, or compete in competitions are a sign of health.  If you enjoy these things by all means do them, but understand that there will be a negative impact on your overall health. 

Hope the weekend went well.  As we progress through the challenge we will address training more, but we want you focused on your nutrition now.  We have heard from a few.  Some are rolling along steady and some are having some struggles.  Stick with it, the two week point is when things start to regulate and become habit and it's smooth sailing from there.  Let us know if you have any questions or if you want to share any successes, great recipes, struggles, etc.  We are here.  Have a great week.

Q&A

Just a couple of reminders:  Clean eating may seem like a daunting task in the beginning, but it will get easier as you go along.   If you stick with it, you will reap the many benefits!  Nothing good in life is easy. Paul and I are here for anyone who has questions or concerns so don't hesitate to ask!  Jen Hodges commented on our post yesterday and addressed some of the concerns that many of you may have.  If you haven't read her comments, take the time to do so.  She also provided some awesome recipes.  She has become quite the chef!!!  Thanks Jen!  

Here are some of the questions/comments we have gotten through email. 

#1

Hey Dawn,

First day going ok.  I am craving eating my usual stuff so it has been hard.  Mostly I am concerned about eating out or stuff like this-the pool picnic. What could you eat at this picnic? the corn? or Christine said pick the skin off the chicken??  We are eating at Red Rock Canyon for my husband's bday Sunday and I usually get ceasar salad with the cornbread... Do restaurants have a dressing that you can use or do you just do salad at home so you can do your own dressing?

-Teresa

Hi Teresa-

For the pool party, I am planning to eat before we go and I am going to pack some extra food and snacks. I carry a cooler everywhere I go! You could definitely take the skin off the chicken and they may have some condiments like pickles, tomatoes, or lettuce. They may even have some fruit. I am not really sure. Corn is off limits for the challenge.

Eating out should not be a problem. Ceaser dressing is out, but most places have vinaigrette based dressings you could use instead. I hope I answered all of your questions!

#2

Hi Dawn. Wow, I love this lack of hunger! I had breakfast around 9:30. When I got home from school with the kids I realized that I hadn't eaten since the morning.

Anyway, if you can find the time, would you share a favorite recipe for each of those three ingredients? Coconut oil, almond meal, and coconut flour?

Thanks. Elizabeth

Here are some of my favorite recipes using those ingredients:

Here is the recipe for Eggplant pizza using almond meal.

Here is a recipe for Nutty cookies using coconut flour. 
 
Here is a recipe for almond meal pancakes.


Here is a recipe for almond meal bars.


As for the coconut oil, we use it to roast and saute all of our veggies. We also use a lot of coconut milk.

#3

Hi! I need some confirmation on something. I ran into an unorganized moment (big no no for me on challenge) and I had to eat lunch while out and about. Chipotle salad with meat, veg, pico de gallo and guacamole is perfectly acceptable on challenge right? Please say yes. :-)

Is an occasional Lara bar still ok as long as they are made with only nuts and fruit? One a day really helps me get through the first 2 weeks on challenge. Thanks Meg.

 Megan- Thanks for the dinner idea yesterday! We had spinach and pepper frittatas tonight and they were awesome! It was fast and easy. Glad we are not alone with getting the kids on board. It is hard, but if we stick together, we can do it:) You definitely made the right choice at chipotle today. Chipotle is a great place to eat clean since they have awesome salads. I love that you can get peppers, onions, salsa, and guacamole. I also love their chicken! Don't worry about 1 lara bar a day. That is absolutely fine! They are an easy, quick snack! By the way, I just finished up your butternut squash soup. OMG! Too delicious! Paul loved it too. You will be writing a recipe book in the near future:)

#4

I have a question.  I usually eat a pretty quick breakfast with eggs and bacon and water without any fat.  Is it okay to eat my fat mid morning e.g. a handful of almonds?  Or should I eat those nuts with my breakfast?

I have on occasion eaten celery sticks with Sun Butter and a few radishes for a mid morning snack but that takes planning and I'm not always so efficient.  I really like to eat that for a mid afternoon snack better.

I'm not buying any processed meat these days...not even lunch meat so that is not an option for an afternoon snack, even if I wrap it around some veggies (just not going to buy it).

Thanks,

--M

Marilyn - Ideally we want all of your meals, including snacks, to be comprised of all three macro-nutrients (carbs, fats,& proteins)  But with a breakfast of bacon you are probably getting a good chunk of  fat.

On the snack issue, we have found throughout the challenges and in our own eating that snacks become less and less needed as we are able to regulate our blood sugars.  The nutrient dense meals, that have no sugars or processed carbs help to avoid the rapid spike in blood sugar and the crash and crave that results.  We stay fuller longer and can go from one meal to the next without the need for a snack.

One thing for everyone to keep in mind when dealing with snacks is that things like Lara Bars, nuts, sunbutter, and almond butter are caloric dense, taste great, are high in the pro-inflammatory omega-6 fats, and can easily be over consumed.  All of these things work against your efforts to control inflammation and will hinder fats loss.  Be sure not to replace, the sweets you are missing with "Challenge friendly" cheats.  It is the behavior we are looking to change, not just the food.

One last thing and we will leave you alone for the weekend.  Below is a simple way we have used to make having challenge friendly carbs easily available.  When we get our vegetables we do all of our chopping at once and save the chopped vegies in the fridge for when we need them for a meal.  It makes meal prep so much quicker.

Here are most of the vegetables from our Wednesday delivery

We chop them all at once, (pre-challenge I would put on the radio pour a glass of wine and enjoy the process much more)

Throw them in a gallon size ziploc bag and you are good for a few days. They can be thrown in oil for cooking or eaten raw.

Last night we threw a couple of handfuls in some bacon grease and coconut oil

Then poured 8 scrambled eggs on top to make an awesome frittata!

Have a great holiday weekend, stay strong and let us know if you have any questions, challenges, successes, or concerns.  We love to hear from you.

One Day Down!

Day one is in the books and we are headed into a tough holiday weekend.  We have had some great questions come to us through e-mail and we will put up a Q and A post this weekend so that anyone with the same questions can get answers.  We will also share some tips and tricks for making preperation a little bit easier, as well as ways to get the kids involved in the process of clean eating.

I have had several conversations with people dealing with thyroid issues and have started to look into it.  I have been really surprised by the complexities of what I have found.  There seem to be  instances of people with certain types of thyroid conditions having issues with iodine deficiencies on a long term Paleo diet because the lack of dairy.  I need to do a lot more research and will dedicate a post to it soon, but know that you can get sufficient iodine intake from eggs, regular fish in your diet or from iodized table salt.

Think of what you are doing for the next 29 day's as an experiment and a learning experience.  Pay close attention to what your body and your mind are going through.  The first week can be a rough one, especially if you are transitioning from a diet that was full of processed foods.  Low energy, irritability, and gut issues are the norm, but will clear up quickly.  Stay the course and keep it positive.   Focus on the good foods you can eat and the positive health effects that will result, not on the things you are missing out on.

Have a great Friday and we will have the Q and A post tomorrow morning in time to help you navigate your cookouts and parties this weekend.  Here are a couple of meals we have had recently just to give you an idea of how we go about our clean eating.

This was a random breakfast scramble with eggs, bacon, sausage, and sliced yellow and zucchini squash 



This was a frittata Dawn made for the kids one morning



Will liked it!



Kylie's dinner, flank steak with sweet potato fries raw spinach with a dash of sea salt, red peppers and carrots.  We put a drop of guacomole on the kids plate whenever we have it but the have yet to eat it.



We had flank steak also with grilled squash and peppers, collard greens cooked in coconut oil and some leftover baked cauliflower.